Because people have this daft idea I know some stuff about the music business, people keep asking me what impact the recession will have on the music industry. I tell you, if I had a pound for every person who'd asked, I'd certainly be better equipped to deal with the down-turn myself.
Except the askers wouldn't get a pound's worth of insight, because to be honest I can't quite decide what effect the recession will have on either the music industry at large, or more specifically the already struggling record industry. I'm willing to admit this because the boss of Universal Music parent company Vivendi said the same thing at a conference in London last week.
Asked about how he thought his company - which has gaming, TV and phone businesses as well as owning the biggest record company on the planet - would fare in the oncoming recession, Jean-Bernard Levy said: "I have no clue how to answer your question". Yeah, bet you're glad you didn't give him a pound.
According to Billboard, he continued: "Some people tell me this will generate consumer spending. Some people show me market surveys explaining that entertainment as a whole has become as essential as food or health. Some people say that [is] especially [true of] the kind of digital entertainment which we are in, [because it] is quite cheap. But because I don't know we have to be very cautious. We are going to control the cost within the company and hopefully because the products [and] the content will be good we will be rewarded and not hit too much by this recession. But I would be very bold to tell you we are immune".